D-Cubs prospect Soler wields bat, stopped near Threshers' dugout

Daytona Cubs prospect Jorge Soler was caught by teammates near the Clearwater Threshers' dugout Wednesday, and he never swung the bat.

BRIAN LINDERSTAFF WRITER

DAYTONA BEACH — It only took Daytona's Jorge Soler a few seconds to make it from his dugout to that of the Clearwater Threshers following the seventh inning of his team's 14-9 extra-inning loss Wednesday night.

But considering the fact that Soler — a 21-year-old who was given a nine-year, $30-million contract by the Cubs last year — was wielding a bat as he charged across the field at Jackie Robinson Ballpark, Daytona manager Dave Keller said those few seconds were “kind of like a nightmare.”

Soler was caught by teammates near the Threshers' dugout, and he never swung the bat. But the heralded prospect was ejected following the incident, and Keller said he did not know if there would be further punishment from the Cubs or the Florida State League.

The incident followed a confrontation between Soler and Clearwater's Carlos Alonso at second base following the final play of the seventh. Soler slid into the base on the play, and he and Alonso exchanged words. Teammates from each side came out to separate the two, and the groups headed back to their dugouts. But Soler came sprinting back out of the Cubs' dugout — bat in hand — toward the Threshers' dugout.

“I think that he was frustrated by some things and there was some emotional things he was fighting with,” Keller said. “Why he did that, I don't know. I think he was frustrated by what happened. When he slid into second base, (Alonso) ended up laying on top of him. He was laying on him so (Soler) pushed with his arm to get him off him, and I think the second baseman interpreted that the wrong way like he wanted to fight or something.”

Keller said the two sides exchanged words and that Soler was upset about some of the things said to him.

“There were two separate incidents, and there was really no fight,” he said. “But because nobody was around him when he was running across the field with a bat … that makes things a little bit crazy.”

Daytona (3-3) led 9-7 against the Threshers (3-3) at the time of the ejection and unraveled following the incident.

Clearwater's Logan Moore sent the game into extra innings with a two-run triple off Ryan Searle in the ninth that tied it at nine. And the Threshers pounded out five runs in the 11th to pull away for the win.

The incident and loss spoiled a mid-game Cubs rally.

Daytona fell behind 4-0 after Clearwater's first two at-bats, but Dustin Geiger hit a solo shot to left in the second, and Zeke DeVoss hit another in the third to cut it to 4-2.

The Cubs then exploded for six runs in the fourth — highlighted by a three-run home run by Taiwan Easterling and a two-run double by Ben Carhart — to take an 8-4 lead.

But the Cubs managed just one more run — driven in by Easterling in the eighth — while the Threshers scored three in the fifth and two in the ninth to send it to extras.

Ryan O'Sullivan (1-0) worked two innings to earn the win. Luis Liria (0-1) was credited with the loss after giving up seven earned runs in 2 2/3 innings.